LAUSR

Introduction Work accidents (WA) in agriculture are a problem all over the world. There are over 1,3 billion agricultural workers, that counts more than 50% of all the worlds’ workforce. Even if the most of work tasks become more automated, farmers, family members and farm workers are facing risks at work that are higher than in most other occupations. Many accidents involve the handling of machinery or animals. The costs of WAs are increasing, exhausting national economy as a whole. The aim of this study is to analyse the main causes and consequences of WAs in Estonian agriculture. Method The database of accidents in agriculture (2008–2017) has obtained from the Estonian Labour Inspectorate. WAs statistics is based on official reports of employers. Causes and consequences including injury severity, type and body region are described in the present study. Results The main cause of WAs in agriculture is disregarding of safety requirements (28,9%), whereas more than half of cases remain unclear. Loss of control over animals or machinery (33,4%), falling and slipping (21,5%) and an attack or an assault by cattle (15,8%) are the main activity-based reasons of WAs. During the last decade the most were minor injuries (72,8%). By the type of injury most often wounds and superficial injuries (40,4%), bone fractures (25,6%) and concussion or internal injuries (16,2%) have been registered. Upper and lower limbs (35,7% and 33,6%) were the most often injured body regions. Conclusions Agriculture is a sector with high accident risks, where injury rate shows steady tendency to increase. It is important to pay more attention on improvement of safety culture and prevention of work accidents in agriculture.